In May 2010 Australia commenced litigation against Japan in the International Court of Justice over the legality of Japanese scientific whaling in the Southern Ocean. This article considers the background to the litigation, the basis of Australia’s opposition to whaling, and the grounds upon which Australia is mounting its challenge. The interpretation of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling and the operation of the International Whaling Commission are considered in light of the precautionary principle. The article concludes that Australia’s success depends upon a broad reading of the Convention that takes into account its objects and purposes, as well as wider developments in international law. Any guidance that the International Court of Justice can provide on the modern interpretation of this now dated Convention is to be welcomed.

While a broad consensus exists over the necessity of reforming the Security Council, the disagreement among the different groups of member States prevails in great part due to the enlargement and category of membership and the working methods. Such divergence in views attributed to the stalemate in the debate over the Security Council’s reform. However, the recent discussion has gained momentum since the launch of the intergovernmental negotiation at the UN level. The key issues surrounding the UN Security Reform include the size of an enlarged Council, categories of membership with proper regional representation, the veto, working methods and relations with the General Assembly. It is essential not only to properly assess the content of the different proposals to bring out the most‘ sensible’solution, but the attitude of the five permanent members should also be closely examined. In any case, the potential changes in the structure of the Security Council would ultimately require a unanimous decision of the 5P States. This article aims to review the historical development of the Security Council’s reform debate and concentrate on the most contentious questions by analyzing the content of the relevant proposals to test the feasibility of each option.

The countries in East Asia continue to have problems in maritime boundary delimitation. The collision on September 7, 2010 between a Chinese fishing vessel (Minjinyu) and a Japanese patrol boat in the waters near Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands is interesting to observe as a step in dispute settlement process. The differences between the PRC and Japan on maritime boundary delimitation for the East China Sea and the legal status of Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands are demonstrated by this incident. To see things in their context, it is necessary to observe the practices of East Asian countries in handling their maritime boundary delimitations, especially those involving islands with disputed legal status. The rules of international law relating to the pacific settlement of dispute and maritime delimitation dispute resolution, which involve a preliminary sovereignty dispute over islands, are also relevant as a much broader background. The author will examine why certain maritime delimitation cases are particularly hard to handle. The lessons drawn from this paper is inspiring for Taiwan, a long-time marginalized player in East Asian regional affairs. The author will examine the difficulties and opportunities for Taiwan in maritime boundary delimitation and offer a suggestion on how to accomplish such task with neighboring countries.

This paper argues that what Van Vollenhoven did in dealing with adat law was in fact part and parcel of the colonial policy to exploit the colony for the benefit of the Dutch and had nothing to do with being‘ a good Samaritan’by saving‘ the other’ legal culture. What he did also was mainly triggered by what I refer to as cultural anxiety. His campaign to promote adat law was intensified by his fear of the rise of Islamic identity that would be used as a rebellious ideology by the people of Indonesia to fight against the Dutch. Furthermore, I argue that Van Vollenhoven’s intellectual background, heavily influenced by European legal romanticism, had intensified his advocacy to promote adat law in Indonesia.

International cooperation in outer space affairs has always been considered vital to the development of space activities. Such cooperation happens in different levels and different areas. Regional cooperation is especially meaningful to the regions concerned. We have witnessed important developments of space cooperation in Asia in the last few years. However, the cooperation so far is largely limited to technological aspects. We urgently need to see the cooperation in promoting awareness of space law in this region. This article proposes that the establishment of the Asia-Pacific Space Law Center, modeling on the European Center for Space Law, could fill the gap and play an important role in the promotion and education of space law in Asia. Nevertheless, in view of the current situation in the region, we may need to adopt the second best approach, that is, to establish a section within the Asia- Pacific Space Cooperation Organization solely dealing with promoting regional cooperation for space law.

The necessity of Sustainable Development of Space Activities, which can be seen as a concept receiving some impression from Sustainable Development, has been actively debated over last decade. This paper examines the current status of the international regime of space activities by comparing the international regime of sustainable development and analyzing the norms and principles applied in the Draft Code of Conduct of Space Activities of the EU and the Long Term Sustainability of Space Activities. The paper concludes that the Space Traffic Management system should set the guiding principles for international space activities.

Since 1960, the international community has established a plenty of multilateral agreements on liability regime for ultra-hazardous activities, particularly in the area of international nuclear and space law. The liability regime of nuclear damage has imposed compensation exclusively on operators of nuclear installations whether private or State under strict liability principle of the international conventions. Moreover, new changes of international nuclear conventions following Chernobyl incident reflect a significant change of liability for nuclear accidents. Although there was similar incident, called Cosmos 954 case, with nuclear activity, international space law has not developed and remained ambiguous in certain respects, while imposing absolute liability on State actors. This paper, thus, studies whether States, alone, should be liable for all damage from space activities caused by private operator, similar to the liability scheme of international nuclear law. Moreover, vague term in international space law, for instance, damage and other relevant concepts such as space safety standard and international space organization have been taken into account by comparative approach with the terms of international nuclear law.

Since the existing international legal regime governing space weapons is inadequate, the international community is worried about the weaponization of outer space. This paper introduces the efforts and contributions in this regard made by the UN General Assembly, the Conference on Disarmament, the UN Committee for Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and the UN Institute for Disarmament Research. It then analyzes several different approaches to solving the problem of weaponization of outer space, i.e. amendment of Article IV of the Outer Space Treaty, conclusion of a multilateral treaty on comprehensive prohibition of space weapons, and transparency and confidence-building measures in outer space activities. It concludes that a multilateral treaty on the prevention of weaponization of outer space with appropriate verification mechanism will be a final solution. At the present stage, a combination of various CBMs can also serve the purpose to prevent space weapons.

The ECFA was signed by Taiwan and Mainland China on June 29, 2010. It is Taiwan’s new overall national economic policy calling for rapproachment with Mainland China. A primary purpose of this Agreement is to establish a quasi national cross-strait common market within the framework of the WTO as well as to design the legal framework of bilateral economic cooperation. It is a course for the Chinese common market as the final economic integration. By its nature the current ECFA lies somewhat between a free trade agreement and a bilateral trade agreement within the framework of the WTO in the sector of trade in goods. Two parties have agreed on a new model of preferential treatment for goods exported from Taiwan to Mainland China. An agreed Early Harvest for Trade in Goods list is favourable for Taiwan, while an Early Harvest for Trade in Services list is balanced one for both parties. Other principles formulated by the ECFA are related to intellectual property rights and mutual investment. The success and failure of the ECFA will depend largely on the future cross-strait political atmosphere.

After careful deliberation and through rounds of talks, the Chinese mainland and Taiwan signed the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement in 2010. This agreement is viewed by many across the straits and around the world as an agreement with great implications not only for economic issues, but also for political interactions between the two sides. Moreover, as the two sides of the ECFA are WTO members, legally, the relevant rules concerning free-trade agreement under of the WTO regime are applicable to the ECFA. This article will give a brief analysis on the economic, political and legal aspects of the ECFA.

The entry into force of the Japan-Indonesia Economic Partnership Agreement on July 1, 2008, is highly expected to boost Japan’s investment in Indonesia due to the fact that it is the most comprehensive bilateral agreement between the two countries. The JIEPA covers most areas of economic cooperation, including: taxation, trade in goods, trade in services, movement of natural persons, government procurement, intellectual property, investment etc. Some potential legal issues are anticipated during the implementation of the JIEPA due to some differences between the JIEPA and the Indonesian legal system. This article focuses on issues related to foreign investment related law, namely: instrument of ratification and its legal implications; review mechanism; legal certainty; continuation of business activities; termination of business activities; protection and guarantee of foreign investment such as minimum standard of treatment; investment risks; and disputes settlement mechanism.

Le présent commentaire offre un aperçu critique des dispositions clés de la nouvelle loi française relative à la lutte contre la piraterie. À la lumière des problèmes que pose la piraterie maritime au commerce international et notant le manque d’uniformité au niveau de la législation national sur le sujet, l’objectif sous-tendant le commentaire est de déterminer dans quelle mesure la nouvelle loi française sur la piraterie constitue un model législatif domestique désirable. Pour se faire, le commentaire adopte une analyse à deux temps: (1) le degré d’adaptation par le droit français de l’ensemble des dispositions clés formant le régime juridique internationale et; (2) le degré de conformité du régime juridique interne français relativement aux droits et libertés de la personne, notamment en ce qui à trait aux garanties procédurales qui s’impose dans un contexte de détention en mer. À la lumière de ces critères, le commentaire permet de desceller certaines lacunes dans la nouvelle loi française qui pourrait poser obstacle au succès de future poursuite pénale en matière de piraterie.

A primary purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate Professor P. Singh’s Article, “Colonised’s Madness, Colonisers’Modernity and International Law: Mythological Materialism in the East-West Telos”published in Volume 3, Number 1 of the Journal of East Asia and International Law. In his article, Singh attempted to overlap various conceptions of modernity taken from a wide range of academic disciplines, and experimentally collapse them into one with a post-colonial point of view. In spite of incomplete argumentation and obscurity in the conceptual formulation, I found his original ideas on the internal connection of modernity with the operating mode of international law to be highly impressive. The most critical point against him was the firm and stereotypical dichotomy of the colonizer and the colonized without any potentiality of sublating the state of colonization, that is, disconnecting the colonizers with their colony and liberating the colonized from their colony. By such sublation (Aufheben) of the existing oppressive relation between the colonizers and the colonized, we can plan to build a new world of peaceful coexistence between the colonizers and the colonized of the past. But although Singh’s conception of modernity is dangerously one-sided, I expect his further research to penetrate into the deep life-reality of the Indian subaltern, which would make a great contribution to the establishment of the new vision of international law in this global society.

China consists of four customs territories: the mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Each customs territory is an independent member of the WTO as well. To strengthen and promote regional economic integration, the mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan have concluded the CEPAs and the ECFA, respectively. The CEPAs and the ECFA are not only RTAs under the WTO, but also administrative agreements of China, which are unprecedented practices in the Multilateral Trading System. The implementation of the CEPAs and the ECFA go smoothly, and have been elevated to national policies of China, which will significantly promote the joint economic prosperity and development of the mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Climate change is an emerging environmental issue. To prevent possible trade sanctions from the industrialized trading partners, Taiwan proposed several policies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. This includes their preparation of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act is under legislature review and the Statute for Renewable Energy Management. Because Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, it is excluded from participation in the United Nation Convention on Climate Change and lacks access to the flexible mechanisms defined under the Kyoto Protocol. The Taiwan Environment Protection Administration plans to encourage the local emitters to acquire foreign reduction credits to offset domestic emissions. This article approaches Taiwan’s mitigation policies and measures from an international legal perspective. It also introduces adaptation policies and recommends that the government establish a special national adaptation team to prepare data and criteria for risk prioritization. Finally, this paper recommends that the Parties of the UNFCCC adopt the ‘universal apply’principle for climate change and allow any governmental agency whose governing matters are covered by the convention, to participate and share emission-reduction responsibilities.

This paper examines the early operation of the Kyoto Protocol’s non-compliance procedure since 2006. Several important non-compliance cases recently or currently before the Kyoto Compliance Committee of the procedures and mechanisms deserve to be analysed and discussed. As we may see, the enforcement branch of the Compliance Committee has dealt with some important cases of non-compliance; Among them, from the viewpoint of interpretation or application of international environmental treaties, the question of compliance by Croatia would be particularly interesting. What must be noticed is that the Kyoto Protocol’s NCP has prepared a multilateral forum which enables both the parties and the enforcement branch to base their arguments on international legal perspectives. This examination will also contribute to contested theories of compliance with international legal rules.

The Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol was implemented in China several years ago. In spite of the significant benefits the CDM has brought to China, legal research on the CDM is relatively weak and there are many legal problems with the implementation of CDM projects in Chian. This article clarifies the legal problems of implementing the CDM in China by exploring and analyzing how to implement CDM projects, the legal relationships involved, CDM-related contracts and various key legal issues. The conclusions drawn from the above discussions could have implications for the future carbon reduction activities in China beyond 2012.

The Jews and Palestinians are entitled to self-determination in the historical area of Palestine. An Arab state, the Kingdom of Jordan, has been established in Eastern Palestine and a Jewish state, Israel, in part of Western Palestine. The status of the intermediate area, known as the West Bank is as yet undetermined. It was part of Palestine which the League of Nations destined for a Jewish national home, since, however, the majority of the population of the West Bank are Palestinian Arabs, who are entitled to a right of self-determination, Israel will have to relinquish its claims to this area. The Palestinians for their part will have to accept the Jewish right of selfdetermination in the state of Israel. Among the issues that will need to be negotiated between the parties are borders, the status of Jerusalem, security arrangements, refugees, settlements and water issues.

Since the implementation of the disengagement plan in 2005, Israel has alleged that it no longer occupies the Gaza Strip and claimed its right to legitimate self-defence based on Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, including the suffocating blockade imposed there as well as the ‘Cast Lead’military Operation and others. This paper analyzes Israeli’s claim in light of international law and the objective facts taking place in the Gaza Strip resulting from the implementation of the disengagement plan.

Pacta sunt servanda - agreements must be obeyed - is a peremptory principle of modern international law of treaty. What are the origin and nature of this doctrine? Some say, its Latin wording indicates that it is of Roman origin. And this doctrine is a must for the social good; without it the society will be a chaos. But how does Islam perceive the notion? This paper finds that this doctrine came into being with the very beginning of the creation of human souls by Allaah Whom they accepted as their Sole Lord and made a commitment to follow His commands. And it is a principal tenet for Muslims to adhere to because it is an inseparable part of their faith (Iman), a command from their Lord and a practice (Sunnah) of their Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). It is, therefore, obligatory not merely because it is good for the society, but is also rooted in the teachings of Islamic doctrine and a Muslim’s accountability in the life hereafter.